Excerpt from Memorial to the Legislature of the State of New York for an Investigation of the Conditions Surrounding Gas and Electric Lighting in the City of New York: The Merchants Association of New York, January 11, 1905

We are glad to observe that in his message of January 1, 1905, to the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York, the Honor able Mayor of the City advocates the enactment of legislation to enable the City to erect and maintain an electric plant to light the streets, parks and public buildings of the City, and has caused a bill for that purpose to be prepared for introduction into the Legislature. In his message the Mayor also states: The prices which the City is compelled to pay for gas and electric light are so out of proportion with the charges in other cities, that they must be extortionate.

The Legislature in 1903 having seen fit to refuse to empower the City to establish an electric-lighting plant for city lighting, the City has continued to remain under the control and at the mercy of the several lighting companies, and private consumers are still forced to pay the exorbitant charges exacted, and for insufficient light. If the Legislature is not willing to authorize the City to establish an electric-lighting plant of its own, it should at least investigate this entire subject and by its investigation either con firm or refute the widely prevalent belief that the prices charged both the City and private consumers are far too high and that the illuminants are inferior in quality. Even if the City should be empowered to construct an electric-lighting plant (and we believe that should be done), inasmuch as that plant would not carry relief to private consumers, the investigation sought is eminently necessary and proper. Some idea of the burden placed upon private consumers of gas is given in an official report of the U. S. Government, from which we cite below.

In the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor of the United States for 1899, upon Water, Gas and Electric Plants and Private and Municipal Ownership, there appears an exhaustive analysis of the cost of gas production in more than one-half of all the gas plants of the country, from which the deduction is made by the Commissioner that under the most favorable and most economical conditions of production, in plants of large capacity, the average cost of gas does not exceed 42 cents per one thousand cubic feet of gas sold. The cost as thus ascertained includes not only all the elements of manufacturingcost, but also allowance for waste or leakage, depreciation, interest on investment and taxes.

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